Friday, May 23, 2008

Though I had Graves' disease and didn't know it, this is what I looked like the day before my eyelids swelled almost three years ago. Since misdiagnoses, multiple medications and going from super hyper/borderline thyrotoxicosis to severely hypothyroid and now here we are today, 14 points away from having a normal thyroid, this is what I look like.

My metabolism and all the medications I took caused me to gain a tremendous amount of weight and changed my physical appearance dramatically. Thanks to proper treatment and being so close to a normal thyroid, I've lost 15 1/2 pounds so far. My eyelids have not changed, nor has my vision, not yet anyway, but they will. I haven't given them an option NOT TO.

Katie I know your pain in this, and am sorry you had to go through this. Being hyperthyroid for many years I was eating more and more and getting skinnier and skinnier until my 4 cm. goiter (thyroid tumor) was discovered in late pregnancy, which is when I started to get treated and that is where my weight has stuck ever since (six years ago). Sucks. 90% of my throid was removed and the sicko surgeon even took pictures, so I can know it was removed.

I was fortunate to not have the eye damage you have; I was just a raving, jittery loon for years and years and never new why. I am still a raving, jittery loon, but I have something to blame it on now.

About Jewgirl

Katie Schwartz is a comedy writer and non-fiction essayist, among other literary loves. She is a contributing writer for Zouch Magazine and Mock Paper Scissors. To read more, hit http://katieschwartz.com/bio